Angelo Sodano

The second of six children, Sodano was born on 23 November 1927 in Isola d'Asti, Piedmont, to Giovanni and Delfina Sodano. His father (1901–1991) was a Christian Democrat deputy in the Italian Parliament for three terms from 1948 until 1963. After studying philosophy and theology at the seminary of Asti, Sodano was ordained a priest by Bishop Umberto Rossi on 23 September 1950, and then did pastoral work and taught dogmatic theology at the Asti seminary. Sodano studied in Rome, obtaining a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University. To prepare for a diplomatic career, he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1959. Upon joining the diplomatic service of the Holy See, he served as secretary in nunciatures in Latin America. In 1968 he was assigned to the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church in the Vatican. ==Apostolic nuncio==

On 30 November 1977, Sodano, who spoke English, German, Spanish, French, and Italian, was appointed titular archbishop of Nova Caesaris and apostolic nuncio to Chile, one of the countries where he had served as nunciature secretary. In 1980, together with Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez, he tried without success to get Pinochet to allow the return of certain political exiles, and in 1984 he obtained, at the cost of a dispute between the Holy See and the military government of Chile, safe conduct for four members of the Revolutionary Left Movement, who had sought diplomatic asylum in the nunciature, to leave for Ecuador. ==Secretary of State==

On 29 June 1991, Sodano became Cardinal Secretary of State, succeeding Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, who had retired on 1 December 1990. In 2003, as the pope's legate to the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the election of the Renaissance Pope Julius II, he praised him for his vigorous defense of the Holy See in an age when its temporal role was still critical. , U.S. Secretary of State, in 2005 Sodano participated as an elector in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI. He was not generally considered a likely candidate himself, though he reportedly received a few votes. During the conclave, because Cardinal Ratzinger, the pope-elect, was the dean, Sodano as the sub-dean exercised the dean's duties, asking the pope-elect if he accepted his election and by what name he would be called. At the papal inauguration, Sodano presented Pope Benedict XVI with the Ring of the Fisherman, and he was one of those who made the public profession of obedience to the new pope. Sodano's position as Secretary of State expired upon the death of John Paul II. Benedict XVI reappointed him to the position on 21 April 2005, even though he was past the customary retirement age. On 30 April Benedict ratified Sodano's election to the position of Dean of the College of Cardinals by the suburbicarian cardinal bishops, adding as was customary the suburbicarian see of Ostia to his honorary titles. On 18 September 2012, Sodano was named by Pope Benedict as one of the Synod Fathers of the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Catholic Synod of Bishops. When Pope Benedict resigned, Sodano as Dean of the College of Cardinals summoned the cardinals for the conclave during the sede vacante and was the principal concelebrant of the Pro eligendo Pontifice mass on the morning the conclave opened. He was not eligible to participate in the conclave, which elected Pope Francis. At the inauguration of the new pope, Sodano, as Dean of the college, presented the Ring of the Fisherman to Francis. On 21 December 2019, Pope Francis accepted Sodano's resignation as Dean of the College of Cardinals, following the Pope's annual Christmas meeting with officials of the Curia which opens with a greeting by the Dean. ==Sex abuse cases==

Former Irish minister for foreign affairs Dermot Ahern revealed in 2018 that Sodano pressured him in 2004 to "indemnify the Catholic Church against legal actions for compensation by clerical child sexual abuse survivors" in Ireland, which Ahern refused. Jason Berry writes that Sodano, as John Paul II's secretary of state, "pressured Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then the head of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and who would become Pope Benedict, to stop investigations into two notorious sex abuse cases," the Hans Hermann Groër case and the Marcial Maciel case. In his address as Dean of the College of Cardinals to Pope Benedict XVI at Easter 2010, Sodano told him: "The people of God are with you and do not allow themselves to be impressed by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials that sometimes assail the community of believers." Victims of clerical sex abuse interpreted the "petty gossip" remark as a highly inappropriate reference to their complaints, emphasizing that victims seeking healing "should not be insulted and told that our speaking out is petty gossip.” On 8 May 2010, the Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress published remarks made by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, in what was supposed to be a private conversation with newspaper editors. The Austrian cardinal criticized Sodano's "petty gossip" comment and indicated that Sodano had blocked the actions of then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who was serving as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and was intending to investigate accusations against Schönborn's predecessor Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër. Schönborn added: "The days of cover-up are over. For a long while the Church's principle of forgiveness was falsely interpreted and was in favour of those responsible and not the victims." Sodano is one of many Catholic bishops and cardinals who are accused in an August 2018 letter by former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò of failing to act on reports of sexual misconduct by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. According to Viganò, his predecessors in the nuncio position attempted to warn the Holy See about McCarrick, but McCarrick was shielded from discipline by a series of secretaries of state, including Sodano. On 21 December 2019, the Legion of Christ identified 33 of its priests and 71 of its seminarians as sexually abusing 175 children for decades and singled out Sodano as the leader of efforts to cover up the reports of abuse when he was serving as Secretary of State. Sodano was accused of seeking a deal to bury documents detailing abuse. The Holy See Press Office announcement of his resignation provided no reason for it. ==Death==

Sodano died of complications from COVID-19 and pneumonia on 27 May 2022, at the age of 94. Pope Francis paid tribute to Sodano, "I recall his diligent work alongside so many of my predecessors, who entrusted him with important responsibilities in Vatican diplomacy, up to the delicate office of Secretary of State. In the Roman Curia, he carried out his mission with exemplary dedication. I, too, was able to benefit from his gifts of mind and heart, especially when he exercised the office of Dean of the College of Cardinals. In every assignment, he showed himself to be an ecclesial disciplined man, an amiable pastor, animated by a desire to spread the leaven of the Gospel everywhere." By his wishes, Sodano was interred in the crypt of the cathedral in Asti. ==Awards==

• International Vittorino Colombo Prize, 2004. ==References==